Energy the name of the game in volleyball

High school volleyball is played in a best-of-five set format. A team must reach 25 points to win any of the first four sets, while the fifth is played to 15.

That leaves the possibility for over 200 points in a tight match. So, why, at 5-4 in the second set, does Spain Park’s Caroline Horton feel the need to scream like her team just won the state championship?

“Because it’s exciting,” she exclaimed. “Every single point matters, so you treat every point like it’s game point. You have to get that excited for every point.”

Horton, a junior, plays on a Jaguar team that is senior-laden, with eight players that will be graduating at the conclusion of this school year. Due to that fact, her on-court impact will reach its peak next season.

That’s not stopping her, though.

Any point the Jags win, Horton is out of her seat, celebrating along with the rest of the team, usually more emphatically than one would expect. She’s certainly the catalyst behind the spike in the decibel meter after each Spain Park triumph.

“I think my personality brings energy to the team,” Horton said. “I’m always enthusiastic and screaming.”

Whether on the court or the sideline, junior outside hitter Marlee Johnson contends each team needs the exuberance of every person after a point.

“It’s a team sport, more so than any other sport. I get more excited for other people that get kills, because in some way, everyone is a part of that and every point matters,” she said.

Johnson also sees the effect on her team when the opposition runs off a few points in a row.

“The swing of volleyball is so big from side to side,” Johnson said. “If you don’t have the momentum, you can’t win, because the other team will get in your head.”

Horton added, “Energy keeps your team up. If you play without energy, you play dead and it seems like you don’t want it as much.”

Horton also knows from experience how gratifying it is to make a big play during a match and to have the bench get excited for her.

“Oh, it makes you even more excited and motivated to keep doing great,” she said. “When you hear your teammates – who you work hard with every single day – cheering for you when they’re not out there doing it, it makes you want to work even harder.”

Those sideline antics? She admits they are not all spontaneous.

She said, “We’re over there saying, ‘Alright, next point, we’re going to get up and scream. Everybody on this bench better be standing up screaming, slapping the floor.

“That’s what we talk about; how we’re going to get the team excited.”